Crimson Khan

Can anyone tell me the major differences between muay thai and lethwei?
im pretty sure the differences are more than, ones thai and ones burmese

is it true you can headbutt in lethwei?
just askin'

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Dante4290

Burmese kickboxing???? What exactly is that??? Im on the same boat Crimson Khan. :S

george stando

Lethwei is bare knuckle fighting no gloves, second there are no judges, its win,lose or draw. The headbutt is legal as well as some other techs. Lethwae is burmese bare knuckle fighitng. Muay Thai is fought with gloves, with judges and point scoring, the headbutt as well as many other techs are illegal including the headbutt.

There is more to it but you get the overall picture.

Crimson Khan

ok then
well, what seperates it from traditional style muay thai
where muay thai was fought with rope wrapped around the fists (like in the fight on ong bak, with the burmese boxer)
in traditional muay thai there arent rings and rounds and gloves etc.

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george stando

Your post is confusing me. Its simple. If you are talking about modern Ring Muay Thai, you have seen it and know the rules etc. Older style muay changed in time from no ring, no rules, to a few rules to more rules to a ref to fighting in a ring before it stopped. But for the most part no gloves, no judges, few rules.

in burmese boxing, they wear regular handwraps now and the major fights are in a ring. Just to be clear.

theprophet

I will be starting a Lethwei class tomorrow night. I have previously trained for 18 months in Muay Thai. I'd love to share the differences once I have taken a few classes for those who are interested.

Sorry to dig up and old thread.

fire cobra

Let us know how it goes brother,and the differences beetween Muay Thai and Lethwei.

Fire Marshal

Good luck to you!

lorenzodamarith

hello,

lethwei/thaing, hands held a bit higher. resembles muaychaiya in this regard. as in thailand, different burmese camps have different specialties. overall, they are functionally very similar. the training METHODS (how a class normally runs) could be significantly different. the burmese schools are typically much smaller than thier thai counterparts.

the only MAJOR difference is thier approach to the inside or "trapping" range. the thai tend to clinch, the burmese tend to engange in short striking that starts to resemble silat (same types of strike targets).

have fun with it. tell us how it turns out!

thanks

theprophet

That's odd, I've been watching some Lethwei fights online & I'm under the impression they hold their hands much lower then MT. The MT style I've done (Sityodtong) we hold our hands thumbs to the height of our temples, can't get much higher then that!!

E

fire cobra

Yep thats where the hands should be in Muay Thai most of the time up by the eye brows.

theprophet

Well, first impression was good. Lot's of anaerobic conditioning. There are 4 guys in there getting ready for MMA fights so we worked a lot of entries for takedowns and takedown evasion. I noticed in the clinch I had a huge upper hand, we trained a lot of that in my MT class. I'm definitely returning to train there, good group of guys and they are all fighters (not just there to get in shape)

I will post up some more information as I attend more classes. Peace!!

E

lorenzodamarith

hello,

agreed. those with low hands/elbows are likely weapon oriented (competitions aren't of course, just the system as presented). you are accustomed to seeing a stance that is a bit more low-sideways than muaythai with hands/elbows at about waist hieght? this is what muaythai looked like in the 20's-50's. still influenced by weapon usage (without shields).

thaing (generic all-encompassing form) resembles the malay weapon/shield fighters. they use this small shield to defend thier heads and not much else. they use a lot of low leg kicks and straight kicks. when unarmed, they still hold hands very high and strike with hands at short ranges (resembles silat in this striking).

these differences may still exist due to a lack of a MASSIVE sport infrastructure like that of thailand. also, not sure what rules differences exist in the competitions they do have.

thanks

lorenzodamarith

hello,

glad you liked it. yes, keep us updated!

yeah, you will notice that in the clinch you will be a bit stronger, but watch out for thier elbows and short strikes at that range. inside of biceps, armpits, elbows to clavicles, sternum and such. class is safe, but competition would be brutal!!! kinda like dog brothers!

thanks

fire cobra

Excellent,sounds a good class,keep us updated